ROYAL ALBERT HALL

VENUE HISTORY

The list of famous performers and world figures who have appeared at the Royal Albert Hall since it opened in 1871 is unrivalled. Wagner, Verdi and Elgar conducted the first UK performance of their own works on its concert platform, Rachmaninov played his own compositions and nearly every major classical solo artist and leading orchestra has performed at the Hall.

The list of popular music artists includes Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Oscar Peterson, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Sting and Elton John and from a younger generation Jay Z, Kaiser Chiefs and the Killers.

Among leading world figures who have spoken at the Hall are Her Majesty The Queen, Sir Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton.

A great Central Hall, dedicated to the promotion of Art and Science, was a key part of Prince Albert's vision for the South Kensington estate, which was developed on land purchased with the profits of the Great Exhibition of 1851.

With Prince Albert's premature death from typhoid, the realisation of this vision was largely due to the energy and determination of Henry Cole. The design and robust structure of the Hall were inspired by Cole's visits to ruined Roman Amphitheatres. Detailed design of the building was started by Captain Francis Fowke of the Royal Engineers and completed, following Fowke's death, by Lieutenant Colonel (subsequently General) Henry Darracott Scott.

The original plan that the Hall should accommodate 30,000 was, for financial and practical reasons, reduced to approximately 7,000. Much of the money originally intended for the construction had been diverted to the building of the Albert Memorial. Cole raised the necessary money for building the Hall by selling 'permanent' seats in the Hall for £100 each. Preliminary work on the Hall by the contractors Lucas Brothers started in April 1867 and the foundation stone was laid the following month by Queen Victoria. The Queen opened the Hall four years later on 29 March 1871.

The heart of the Hall is the vast internal auditorium 185 feet wide by 219 feet long covered by a glazed dome constructed of wrought iron girders which, at the time, was the largest structure of its kind in the world.

Other notable features include the great Henry Willis Organ also, at the time, the largest in the world and, in tribute to its power and volume, described by a contemporary as 'The Voice of Jupiter'. Between 1921 – 1933 it was substantially modified and enlarged by the Durham-based organ firm of Harrisons and it was comprehensively restored by the London firm, Manders, between 2003 – 2004.

The distinctive exterior of the Hall, inspired by the architecture of Northern Italy, was built from some 6 million red bricks and eighty thousand blocks of decorative terracotta. Surmounting the exterior walls and above the balustraded smoking gallery, runs a continuous 800 foot long terracotta frieze composed of allegorical groups of figures engaged in a range of artistic endeavours, crafts, scientific and other cultural pursuits.